I have decided to adapt and use a rating system adapted from 2ToRamble.
Rating System Range
| Star |
Equivalent Word |
| 1 |
Awful |
| 1.25 |
Very Bad |
| 1.5 |
Bad |
| 1.75 |
Very Flawed |
| 2 |
Flawed |
| 2.25 |
Very Disappointing |
| 2.5 |
Disappointing |
| 2.75 |
Below Average |
| 3 |
Neutral |
| 3.25 |
Above Average |
| 3.5 |
Good |
| 3.75 |
Really Good |
| 4 |
Great |
| 4.25 |
Really Great |
| 4.5 |
Spectacular |
| 4.75 |
Nearly Floored |
| 5 |
Floored |
| N/A |
Not Applicable to Category |
Categories
Emotional Impact:
This category looks at how much the book’s intended emotion hit you. Was the book trying to make you laugh, cry, cheer, horrified, tense, etc, and did it have that impact on you?
- 5/5 star Emotional Impact: Intended Outburst (you cried/laughed/cheered/edge of your seat).
- 1/5 star Emotional Impact: Opposite of Intended Outburst (Book tried to make you laugh or cheer/etc, but instead you cringed)
- A brief way of thinking about this category: Intended VS Opposite Outburst.
Note: Some people have different reactions and are less emotive, so have your 5 star vs 1 star be internally consistent with however you best express your emotional highs and lows.
Thought-Provoking:
This category explores the messages, themes, and ideas of a book. Anything and everything to do with what the book is trying to say ranging from what makes a human to what makes a good friend. Two factors are most important: the execution and the message itself. For superb execution, look into how all of the elements in the story (the plot/characters/world/etc) are interwoven to help magnify the themes of the book. Does it all resonate that these elements must be a part of this story to get across its themes? For the message itself, is it something you agree with? If you disagree, does it still make a strong case? Is it challenging?
- 5/5 star Thought-Provoking: Lifelong impact. A theme/message/idea that was executed profoundly. It either changed your mind, reinforced something you believed, or made you look at something from a new perspective in a convincing way (whether you agree or disagree).
- 1/5 star Thought-Provoking: Insulting your intelligence. The theme/message is executed horribly and/or is an unconvincing message you disagree with.
Characters:
This category judges characters. Whether they’re static or dynamic, main or secondary, this category judges how real the characters feel. Characters could have flaws/wants/needs or could just be a one-note side character that perfectly fits their role.
- 5/5 star Characters: Irreplaceable characters that feel like real people. You can’t put another character from another book in their place.
- 3/5 star Characters: Replaceable characters, but they are coherent.
- 1/5 star Characters: Incoherent characters that aren’t just replaceable, but they are inconsistent and don’t make sense.
Plot:
This category reviews the plot of the novel. The promise, progress, and payoff of a story. Consider the structure of the book (three acts?), the pacing, and series of events that occur. Plot holes, plot armor, and everything in between.
- 5/5 star Plot: You’d like to see very few additions, subtractions, or changes in the plot.
- 1/5 star Plot: You’d like to see a TON of additions, subtractions, or changes in the plot. It would be almost an entirely different book.
Worldbuilding:
Worldbuilding analyzes all the elements of the world/magic system (if applicable) and how much suspension of disbelief you have in the book. Whether it was the atmosphere, history, cultures, geography, flora, fauna, magic, setting, governments, religions, curse words, linguistics, fashion, etc… did the world allow you to escape? Does it feel real?
- 5/5 Worldbulding: The book made you forget reality. It sucked you in. Whether it was one specific element or a whole factor of elements, when you read this book you truly escaped.
- 1/5 Worldbuilding: There was no immersion. You kept finding inconsistencies, and/or just were not convinced this place was real.
Prose:
Prose is a tough category to judge because different authors have such different styles. It is generally good to have an economy of words, do multiple things at once with your sentences, not be redundant, not repeat yourself, and allow the reader to actually visualize what is in the author's head. Some of the best authors in the world constantly break these ‘rules/conventions’ of writing because they deeply understand the rules and intentionally break them, but on a baseline, the most important thing is to convey to the reader what is happening in the story.
- 5/5 Prose: Irreplicable prose that makes this author special/have their own voice. (Note: So long as their style and writing is actually ‘good’ – which, again, looks at how clear the language is and many factors that go into readability and overall expertise). Is it both expertly done and the prose feels like this author.
- 1/5 Prose: Distracting prose that is difficult to read/follow along.
Note: Books in a foreign language that are translated into your primary tongue are more difficult to judge because of what is lost in translation. For those books, either put N/A because you cannot be a good judge of that, or clarify that you are only judging the translated prose.
Editors Note:
A lot of this text is pulled directly from the 2ToRamble explainer document, located at here. Edited only for clarity/brevity.